PA official denies Jewish ties to the Western Wall and Jerusalem, repeats lie: “The Al-Buraq is an Islamic waqf, and Israeli archeologists have not found any Jewish antiquities under the Al-Aqsa Mosque"

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

In an announcement, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information expressed its indignation over the American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and suggested that US President Trump and Vice President Pence “give Israel the White House”:

“The ministry said that President Trump and his Vice [President] Pence can give Israel the White House in its entirety or give it Washington, the capital.”

[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, Dec. 16, 2017]

On Facebook, Fatah posted a photo of Palestinians in Bethlehem who are burning a poster of Pence with the text in English:

“Bethlehem Welcomes the Messengers of Peace

Not the Messengers of War

Pence go home”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Dec. 18, 2017]

The Ministry of Information also repeated the PA’s claim that the Western Wall - in the Palestinian-Islamic narrative “the Al-Buraq Wall” - is “Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic” and that Jews have no historical ties or rights to it:

“The ministry emphasized that the Al-Buraq Wall was, still is, and will remain Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic as UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) determined when it rejected any historical connection between the Jews and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (i.e., the Temple Mount) and this wall.”

[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, Dec. 16, 2017]

Similarly a PA official repeated the lie that no Jewish archeological remnants have ever been found proving the existence of a Jewish Temple at the site:

“They [the Jews] have nothing. They cry over the claimed destruction of the Temple, but Israeli archeologists themselves have searched under the Al-Aqsa Mosque and have not found even one Jewish archeological remnant."

The following is a longer excerpt of the report on the PA ministry’s statement:

Headline: “The [PA] Ministry of Information: The Al-Buraq [Wall] is part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the US can give Israel the White House”

“The [PA] Ministry of Information said that US Vice President Mike Pence’s decision to make an official visit to the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall of the Temple Mount) is a violation of international law, a further step in the provocation of the world, and a continuation of the blind bias in favor of the occupation.

The ministry emphasized that the Al-Buraq Wall was, still is, and will remain Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic as UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) determined when it rejected any historical connection between the Jews and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (i.e., the Temple Mount) and this wall.

The ministry said that [US] President [Donald] Trump and his Vice [President] Pence can give Israel the White House in its entirety or give it Washington, the capital. But to do as they please with a land, history, present, and future that do not belong to them is support for terror and encouragement to commit war crimes and ethnic cleansing against the members of our people, particularly in Jerusalem.”

[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, Dec. 16, 2017]

The Al-Buraq Wall - Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have rode during his Night Journey from Mecca to "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17), and there tied his miraculous flying steed named Al-Buraq to a "stone" or a "rock." (Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Book 47, Hadith 3424). In the 1920's, Arab Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini decided to identify the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem as that "rock" or "stone," and since then Muslims refer to the Western Wall as the "Al-Buraq Wall."

UNESCO(UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) passed a resolution in Paris on “Occupied Palestine” on Oct. 13, 2016, with 24 countries voting in favor, 6 against, and 24 abstentions. The resolution was later approved by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee on Oct. 26, 2016, in a secret ballot in which ten countries voted in favor of the resolution, two opposed, eight abstained, and one country, Jamaica, was absent.

In the resolution UNESCO refers to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, only as “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif,” and presents it only as a “Muslim holy site.” The resolution condemns “escalating Israeli aggressions” and Israeli “violations” at the site, and calls on Israel “to respect the integrity, authenticity and cultural heritage of Al-Aq?a Mosque/Al-?aram Al-Sharif... as a Muslim holy site of worship.” The resolution likewise refers to the Western Wall Plaza as the “Al-Buraq Plaza ‘Western Wall Plaza,’” adding quotation marks to the Jewish name for the site.

The resolution was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan.

Headline: "Issa: The Al-Buraq is an Islamic waqf (i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law), and Israeli archeologists have not found any Jewish antiquities under the Al-Aqsa Mosque"

"Expert on international law, [Secretary-General of the PA Islamic-Christian Council for Jerusalem and the Holy Places, and Fatah Revolutionary Council member] Hanna Issa... said in an interview with [the independent Palestinian news agency] Donia Al-Watan: 'The Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall of the Temple Mount) is an inseparable part of the area of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque that stands on 144.25 dunams (i.e., approximately 35.6 acres).' [...]

He added: 'In contrast, they [the Jews] have nothing. They cry over the claimed destruction of the Temple, but Israeli archeologists themselves have searched under the Al-Aqsa Mosque and have not found even one Jewish archeological remnant."